Letter to the Editor: Repealing the Military Commissions Act

This week I wrote this letter to the editor of my local paper, The Missoulian. True, Ron Paul is generally wacky, but I still admire his American Freedom Agenda Act and wanted to draw attention to it. Since I live in a conservative area of the country (though a liberal part of Montana), it seemed important to elaborate on potential ramifications of the Military Commissions Act for those who might not otherwise be alarmed.

Support bill revoking ‘combatant' status

If
the president names you an “enemy combatant,” you become one just
because he or she says so. This means that, at this moment, you or any
other U.S. citizen could legally be locked up without charge or the
right to an attorney. Shocking, isn't it? And fundamentally
un-American; the kind of thing that would make the founders turn over
in their graves.

A provision in the Military Commissions Act
gave the president this unprecedented power a little over a year ago.
Though we might like to think “enemy combatant” status would only be
conferred upon U.S. citizens with verifiable terrorist ties, are we
willing to allow our basic rights to be tossed out the window on that
gamble?

This is not a partisan issue; every American, not only
those who vocally oppose the current administration's policies, should
be alarmed. Imagine if a President Clinton II framed anti-abortion
terrorism as a threat to national security, and all anti-abortion
activists faced risk because of their potential terrorist ties. Or if
an NRA member was responsible for a school shooting or another Oklahoma
City bombing, and other members suddenly became potential “enemy
combatants.”

The point is that no president should have the
authority to call you something that strips you of your rights. Ask
Rep. Denny Rehberg to support Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul's American
Freedom Agenda Act of 2007 (HR 3835), which would reverse the Military
Commissions Act and many other threats to our liberty. Those on the
left and the right who are concerned about preserving our basic
freedoms can go to www.americanfreedomcampaign.org and
www.americanfreedomagenda.org, respectively. If we give up our rights
voluntarily, do we need to worry about those “enemies of America” out
there who “hate freedom”?

Leave a comment

Name

Email Address

URL

Remember personal info?

Comments (You may use HTML tags for style)

Six Hours A Week Is:

A coping strategy, advocacy outlet, and form of protection. My life has been nearly destroyed by the unconstitutional practices of politically/socially-motivated private intelligence contractors and the corruption and cronyism that allow them. Apparently because I speak out in ways that prioritize the little guy and human and environmental health above gargantuan profit margins, and believe that facts are as important as PR spin, I was someone who had to be completely discredited. In 2007, after a few months of a surreal and relentless invasion of privacy and dignity, I started to spend six hours each week researching, communicating about, and advocating legal and ethical responses to assaults on our shared democratic and republican ideals. For most of that time I was writing from the perspective of someone whose life was manipulated into a constant state of terror and emergency. In 2010, many of the array of entrapment attempts seem to have failed and it seems no longer possible to get away with such excessive, obvious harassment and overt interference. As we take more practical steps to address what has been allowed to happen to my family, we do expect to see some more harassment and intimidation. But I should be able to chronicle it from a more measured perspective, rather than that of someone in constant fear. Part of me would like to go back and delete earlier posts, because even I find them hard to relate to in some ways. But this blog has been one of our only forms of protection as everyone in any official capacity ignored the truth and tried to spin and frame us into the troublemakers and perpetrators of one form or another. So I leave it up as a form of protection, a record of what has occurred, and (with luck) the account of our way back to credibility and some form of legitimate justice.
All content on this site is property of Kyeann Sayer. All rights reserved.

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Kyeann published on October 26, 2007 12:31 AM.